Luis Palma proves his killer Celtic creativity is more than goals as ingenuity trumps blinding speed

Luis Palma lifted his head and dropped a delightful pass over the Kilmarnock backline for Kyogo Furuhashi to turn and hit a post.

It was a piece of creative ingenuity that came after another example of his own clinical edge. Palma’s first home goal had come with the type of accurate and unerring finish that screamed quality. In fairness to the Honduran he’d already displayed such traits at Celtic Park.

If his maiden Celtic goal the previous week at Motherwell had seemed a touch fortunate as a cross-shot, his whipped strike into the Lazio net showed he can produce lethal doses of finishing. An offside call ruled that one out and, although Kilmarnock had hoped VAR would deny the winger again, Palma’s classy hit counted on this occasion. Replacing Jota is not going to be easy because the output of goals and assists from the Portuguese in Glasgow were of a high level.

Unfortunately it took Celtic almost two months after Jota left to get Palma in but he’s getting up to speed now and the signs are highly encouraging. He constantly got himself on to the touchline and demanded the ball. He had good composure with an intelligence of when to keep it simple and slow the game down by dropping a pass back or when to get it out of his feet and attack his marker when it was time to inject some tempo. Without being blessed with rocket pace he had enough legs to get beyond defenders in one-on-one scenarios and has an inventive eye.

While Palma is a relatively new recruit for fans to get excited about, the performances of two more familiar faces also warmed the
home supporters. Reo Hatate was the outstanding player. Whatever the issues for him since the summer, he washed Killie away to show he has come out the other side. The